Advice For College Student

[koalas123]

Hi everyone,

I'm kinda lost on what to do right now with my credit portfolio ... I recently applied for a Amex Blue Cash card, and was approved for $7700.  That leaves my LOCs as:

Citi Forward                             $9700                                

Capital One Platinum               $750 ($39 annual fee)

Bank of America Student         $2500

Target Store Card                    $1000

Blue Cash                                $7700

($0 balance on any card)

Should I close down my Capital One card since it has an annual fee and *might* not grow?  Would closing the Target card be a good idea as well since I don't really use it?  My primary concern is it seems like I have too much credit available for a 21 year old college student... It's sort of tempting sometimes to overspend because of the amount of credit available.  Please advise.

Thanks!

[andre181]

I am also a 21 year old college student

Have you tried to call capital one and ask them to drop the annual fee? I got Capital One to drop the annual fee on my Visa card. 

If they won't drop it for you, I would say to go ahead and close it. You look like you are in good shape, you don't need that card.

[vish1]

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@koalas123 wrote:

Hi everyone,

I'm kinda lost on what to do right now with my credit portfolio ... I recently applied for a Amex Blue Cash card, and was approved for $7700.  That leaves my LOCs as:

Citi Forward                             $9700                                

Capital One Platinum               $750 ($39 annual fee)

Bank of America Student         $2500

Target Store Card                    $1000

Blue Cash                                $7700

($0 balance on any card)

Should I close down my Capital One card since it has an annual fee and *might* not grow?  Would closing the Target card be a good idea as well since I don't really use it?  My primary concern is it seems like I have too much credit available for a 21 year old college student... It's sort of tempting sometimes to overspend because of the amount of credit available.  Please advise.

Thanks!

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There is no reason to hold on to CAP 1 anymore, it won't hurt you in anyway. With the kind of lines you have with citi and Amex, the Cap 1 can never match anything close to that. I would get rid of that cap1 card yesterday.

For target, its upto you, if it doesn't have a AF, just sockdrawer it. Even if you kill it, your available credit wont decrease much.

[monicar2009]

How much did citi start you off with? I'm a college student too and got a citiforward at 5200 about a year ago. Maybe I'm not asking for increases enough 

[koalas123]

Thanks for all the replies!  @monicar2009 I started off with $1200 about a year and a half ago.  After the first six months, I've been getting regular increases on the card by calling in every three months.

[Anonymous]

Hey I am grad student, just wondering when you apply for blue cash did you inform that you were a student? Because right now i don't have a job so I am afraid that they might deny me. 

[koalas123]

Yeah, for that option I just put down "Student, Employed".

[smc733]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hey I am grad student, just wondering when you apply for blue cash did you inform that you were a student? Because right now i don't have a job so I am afraid that they might deny me. 

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If you're under 21 and unemployed, the law prohibits any CC company from issuing a credit card.

[Anonymous]

Current undergrad student right here:

I'm a self employed student (I tutor other students at my University for cash UTT). I pitched this story to BofA and got upgraded from the "student card" to the Americard, plus a nice CLI   I must add that I have a checking acct. with them, and they asked if I had a recent tax return to show this. I justly stated that I recently started and havent filed taxes yet, plus I had my notes in front of me that outlined my hourly, weekly, monthly, and annual wages from this so I was able to quickly paint a positive financial picture I did this all over the phone, no "luv botton" for a risky situation like mine. The best advice I would give to other students is to be PREPARED and ask yourself this question: "would I grant credit to myself if I heard this story?"

I want the BCE badly, but I figured it would be wise to wait until my AAoA is up-to-par before I apply. So what did I do in the meantime? I was pre approved for the AMEX Gold Card, so I bit the AF bullet and got the card. I figure that by paying 1 year of the AF and running a couple K through it every month, i'll show AMEX that I am a respponsible/ trustworthy customer. Thus when it comes time to apply for the BCE (I will still be a student) it will greatly increase my chance of being approved. Hope this helps!

[frogfan12]

At 21 my highest CL was $2500. What kind of income do you guys have to be getting these $9K CLs?